It's pretty fearsome, Peter. And not just the golf carts. "The Villages" is like a virulent cancer spreading rapidly over central Florida. Construction involves cutting the native trees, then going in with bulldozers and turning the landscape into a moonscape. Once that's done, a "village" center is constructed, with stores, recreational and medical facilities, etc., etc. Finally the houses and golf courses and golf cart roads are put in. In the meantime, the drawdown of the Floridan aquifer increases, and the water level in the aquifer falls lower and lower. Gradually, what thirty-five or so years ago erupted at the surface in clear, clean artesian springs is being reduced to dribbles. Eventually -- fairly soon, I expect -- the water will turn salty, and Florida will have to find an alternative water source. They may have to turn to desalinating seawater. Can you imagine what that's going to cost? Especially since Hanoi Jane in The China Syndrome has frightened the ignorant about nuclear power.
In the meantime, I'm gonna move back to Colorado.
